Taxi drivers press safety measures with city

Owners and some drivers voice concern about cost, effectiveness

Taxicab drivers want stronger safety regulations from the city of San Diego in light of two shootings just over a month apart, though cab owners said forcing cabs to comply could drive up costs for drivers and passengers alike.

Sarah Saez of the United Taxiworkers of San Diego on Tuesday asked the San Diego City Council to implement rules that would require all cabs to have security cameras and encourage optional barriers between drivers and passengers.

Early Sunday morning in Lemon Grove, paramedics discovered a bullet wound in 39-year-old cabdriver Jalaludin Hamrah after responding to a traffic accident. Hamrah was found dead in the vehicle, but the cause of his death has not yet been determined. The county Sheriff’s Department is investigating the incident as a homicide.

On Sept. 29, another cabdriver named Mir Najibullah Sadat Sahou, 68, was shot to death in La Jolla. Ismael Raul Lopez, 28, has been named as a suspect in his death and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.

The two shootings prompted a local association of cabdrivers to ask officials to speed up the safety process.

Taxi driving is routinely listed as one of the most dangerous jobs in America, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The latest figures from Occupational Safety and Health Administration shows cabdrivers are 20 times more likely that the average U.S. worker to be murdered on the job.

Currently, drivers can discretely turn on a blue light on the back of their cabs if they need police help, but the United Taxi Workers said that is not enough.

The safety of drivers is a concern for business owners and the drivers who lease vehicles from them. But owners such as Tony Hueso of USA Cab LTD, said adding things like barriers and cameras have limited affects on crime.

“We’re always going to have thieves and robbers and killers, technology isn’t going to solve that issue,” he said.

Hueso, a member of the Metropolitan Transit System’s Taxicab Advisory Committee, said he believes there could be benefits to installing safety equipment but that decision should be left to cab company owners rather than being dictated by a city.

Marti Emerald, a San Diego councilwoman who is chair of the city’s public safety committee and the MTS committee, said the advisory committee is looking into what it would take for San Diego to install cameras in cabs and if it be financially prudent for companies.

“The last thing the owners need is another cost to absorb and pass on to their lessees and customers,” she said.

San Diego would not be the first city to force cabs to have surveillance cameras. Cities including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago have enacted such measures during the last decade.

Arturo Montes, a downtown cabdriver, said he did not think the cameras were necessary and that it is more important for drivers to be more vigilant about their surroundings.